Shortly after coming to Carl Junction, some generous church members offered to send my wife and me on a trip to the Holy Land. For some reason, I felt I should decline and instead take a group of young people to Mexico. My son David had developed a musical program with the teenagers, and we made arrangements for them to perform in churches on both sides of the border.

Forty-six of us went, sleeping on floors every night and eating the common food of peasants. We experienced the closeness of God as much, I'm sure, as if we'd been standing in Gethsemane.

Typical was an experience on Padre Island when, hot and thirsty, we prayed for some refreshment just fifteen minutes before a truck full of watermelons appeared. Later someone recognized the name on our church bus and offered us the use of his church building to spend the night, thus saving us hours of driving and convincing us that God is a very present help in time of need.

I presume a trip to the Holy Land makes you feel close to Jesus. ...